Pursuit Course
by The Passionate Admiral
Summary: Episode 2 of my Star Trek: Champion series. Captain Larson manages a seemingly endless number of requisitions from the crew. In the meantime, Halrinso, Wood, and Casey make a startling discovery; the Champion is being followed.
1. Alarming Disorder

Pursuit Course

Author: The Passionate Admiral

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: I own nothing in the Star Trek universe, but I own just about every character in this story, with the exception of Miral Paris. But I own this future version of her.

Author's Note: I would highly recommend that you read Humble Beginnings, Episode 1 of my Champion series, before you read this one if you have not read it already. You can find it on my profile page.

Lieutenant Commander Patrick Wood walked down a corridor on Deck 5. He was carrying a box full of PADDs, which he was supposed to deliver to the Captain. The box was so tall that it blinded his line of sight. People walking opposite him down the corridor had to move to the side to let him past.

"Commander, wait up!" he heard a voice behind him call out. Wood turned around and saw Dr. Rizux running towards him. The doctor was holding another PADD in his right hand.

"What can I do for you, Dr. Rizux?" Wood asking, looking over his shoulder at the Crenaran scientist.

"I've been meaning to address the Captain about transferring some new equipment to the science lab on Deck Fifteen." Rizux told the Second Officer. He held up the PADD in this hand and said "I was going to give this to him to present my request. But seeing as how you're on your way to visit him, do you suppose you could take it with you?"

Wood nodded and said "Put it in the box. I'll make sure he gets it."

Rizux grinned, reached up, and put the PADD in with the others. "Thank you, Mr. Wood."

"It's my pleasure, Doctor." Wood said with a mild note of sarcasm in his voice as he resumed walking for the turbolift. Rizux turned around and went back to the science lab.

As Wood approached the turbolift, he almost ran into Ensign Cheryl Hopkins.

"Oh, my apologies, Ensign." he told her.

"It's no problem, sir." Hopkins assured him. The two of them stepped into the turbolift and said simultaneously "Bridge."

As the turbolift ascended, Hopkins looked at Wood and the crate in his arms. She thought aloud "I assume you're delivering another round of requisitions to the Captain?"

"You know it." said Wood, not bothering to look at her. "I imagine he'll be less than thrilled to get many more of them."

Hopkins agreed with him; Captain Larson had been very busy keeping the ship in order recently. The last thing he needed was another boxful of requisitions from members of the crew.

A moment later, the turbolift arrived on the bridge. Wood moved aside to let Hopkins out first. She nodded her appreciation at him and walked over to her station. Wood stumbled onto the bridge with the box in his arms, just narrowly avoiding tripping over the Engineering station.

"Heavy box, Patrick?" asked Commander Ashley Sanderson.

"You could say that, Commander." Wood agreed.

"Do you suppose you've got room for one more PADD in that crate?" inquired Lieutenant Miral Paris, getting up from her station at Tactical and approaching Wood. "I was hoping to file a request to begin testing the phasers in action within the next few days."

"Go ahead, Miral." Wood held out the crate.

"How many PADDs do you have in that case, Patrick?" asked Paris as she placed her PADD in it.

"Including yours, thirty-eight." said Wood. "Based upon the feel of this box and assuming that the artificial gravity is not malfunctioning, I would say that this box and its contents weigh approximately 29.51 metric pounds. But in terms of crude exaggeration, one would say that it feels like it weighs a ton."

"That would sound about right." Sanderson joked.

"Can I give you a hand with that, Commander?" asked Lieutenant Tymar Halrinso from the Security station.

"No thank you, Tymar, I've got it." Wood looked over at the Bolian security guard and asked him "Is the Captain still in the ready room?"

"As far as I know, he hasn't left it for hours." said Halrinso.

"Alright then." Wood walked over to the ready room. As he walked over, he turned to the rest of the bridge crew and said "Let's hope he won't take it too badly."

"Patrick, you're about to walk into a wall!" Ensign Nobema alerted him.

"Thank you, Nobema." Wood thanked the Romulan officer. Wood watched where he was going, and finally reached the door to the ready room. He hit the beeper with his elbow. A moment later, he heard Captain Michael Larson call out "Come in!"

"Special delivery for Captain Michael Larson!" Wood proclaimed as he entered the ready room.

"Patrick, you don't have to say that every time you come in here." Captain Larson reminded his Second Officer.

"I know, sir." Wood walked over to the desk and told him "I've got another crate for you."

"Just put it with the others." said Larson. There was already another crate of PADDs on his desk. But it was only half full. Larson had been confirming or evaluating the PADDs in that crate.

Wood walked over to a table at the other end of the room. The table had three other crates on it, all of them full of PADDs. Wood found room for the crate in his arms and gently placed it down.

"More requisitions?" Larson assumed.

"Yes, sir."

"Wonderful." said Larson, who was clearly annoyed. "I've probably set the record for most requisitions received within the first month of a starship's commission."

"I would have to agree with you there, sir." Wood concurred. "What all are you receiving, anyway?"

"All sorts of things." Larson picked out some of the PADDs from the crate on his desk and held them up for Wood to see. While presenting them, he said: "'Cabin reassignment, equipment transfers, training programs, reorganization of duty shifts…" Larson sighed and leaned back in his chair. He covered his face with his hands and said "Oh, bother."

"Are you alright, Captain?" inquired Wood.

"I'm fine." said Larson. "I just had no idea there would be so much paperwork in our first month out of port."

"I'll bet that Starfleet Command neglected the amount of turmoil that would emerge when they put together a crew as quickly as possible." Wood speculated. "They almost randomly assigned every crewmember his or her station, post, and duty shifts, so naturally a great many people would be unsatisfied."

"I see the logic in your statement, Commander." said Larson. "I know how everything works. On a starship, when somebody is unsatisfied, they file either a complaint or a requisition. But it's a little early for complaints, so they all would resort to requisitions."

Wood just grinned at his Captain and folded his arms. He told him "If you need any help sir, I'd be glad to lend my assistance."

"First I'll see if I can handle this myself." Larson planned. "If I haven't finished at least two crates by the time you bring up another one, we'll work together then."

"That sounds reasonable, sir." Wood found Larson's plan to be very efficient. "May I leave now?"

"Dismissed, Commander." said Larson.

Wood turned around and exited the ready room, leaving Larson alone once again. He took a moment to focus closely on the crate on his desk. Then he went back to work looking over the requisitions and deciding if they were acceptable.

"It's going to be a long commission." he muttered to himself as he denied a request for a ship combat drill to be held once every third day.


	2. Noticed

Commander Wood walked back out to the bridge. As soon as the door to the ready room closed behind him, Lieutenant Nicholas Casey asked the Second Officer "How's the Captain taking the latest load of requisitions?"

"He seems to be very stressed." answered Wood. "But he was probably like that before I went in there."

"You can hardly blame him for that." said Nobema. "Captaining a prototype starship comes with a lot of responsibility. Such a large amount of responsibility would probably put anyone under great stress."

"She does have a point." commented Hopkins.

"Maybe I should give him a hand," Sanderson suggested, rising out of her chair.

"The Captain seems determined to handle the requisitions on his own." Wood notified her. "We should probably respect his wishes. But then again, it won't be good if the stress gets too much into his head."

"Then what do you suggest I do, Mr. Wood?" asked Sanderson, sitting back down in her chair.

"I would recommend waiting for a while, say about one or two hours, Commander," Wood answered, "and then you can offer your assistance to the Captain."

Sanderson agreed that this was an adequate plan. Wood sat down in his chair and began to go to work inspecting some diagnostics from his station.

While the bridge crew worked, they held a conversation about the latest update from Starfleet Command. At this point in time, it was not uncommon for a piece of new and potentially significant news to be distributed throughout the fleet. Starfleet Headquarters always kept them apprised.

Lieutenant Halrinso stood at his station. He usually listened to the conversation being held between the rest of the senior staff, but chose not to participate in it. He saw it as ideal to remain silent unless spoken to while on the bridge. He glanced down at his station and began studying it visually. Something caught his eye.

He brought his hands to the panel and began to enter a set of codes into the mainframe. The thing that had caught his eye may have appeared to be a miniscule fluctuation, but nothing was too miniscule to avoid Halrinso's notice.

As the Bolian Security Chief worked, the rest of the bridge crew continued their conversation.

"I still wonder why Headquarters suspects that the Klingons are hiding something." said Wood.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." said Paris. "Klingons are never good at keeping secrets. I could always tell when my mother wasn't being totally honest."

"And your mother's only half-Klingon," remarked Dr. Rizux, who had just arrived on the bridge.

Paris looked over at Sanderson and told her "If you want, Commander, I can investigate this matter and question all the Klingon officers aboard the _Champion_. Maybe they will know more of this matter than Starfleet Command."

"I appreciate the gesture, Miral, but let's not resort to spying just yet." Sanderson responded. "However, if there is something that they are not telling us, I will make sure that we find out what it is. What do you think, Tymar?"

There came no response from the Third Officer.

Sanderson looked over at the Security Station and addressed the Bolian "Tymar?"

He quickly looked up and asked "Yes, Commander?"

"What do you think about this piece of news regarding the Klingons?" Sanderson clarified.

"If you ask me, it is very disturbing to even suggest that one of our allies is concealing news or information from us." Halrinso replied. That was all he said. After he made that statement, he continued working at his station.

As he went back to work, Nobema asked him "What are you working on, Lieutenant?"

"I noticed a hiccup in the structural integrity field a few minutes ago." Halrinso enlightened the bridge crew. "I'm presently trying to discover the cause of it."

"A 'hiccup?'" said Hopkins.

"That's the only word I can think of to describe it, Ensign." Halrinso responded, still working without looking up.

Another minute later, he had uncovered the source of the "hiccup." It was coming from the outside of the hull. But he couldn't pinpoint the exact location.

Halrinso looked up and said "Lieutenant Casey, did you post today's navigations report?"

"Yes, I uploaded it into mainframe when I reported onto the bridge this morning," answered the Flight Controller. "Why do you ask?"

"I need you to come with me to the astrometrics lab." Halrinso told him. "Bring a copy of the navigations report with you."

Casey looked through the databanks and found the navigations report for that day. He downloaded it onto a computer chip, stood up, and followed Halrinso into the turbolift. Halrinso said "Deck fourteen" and the doors closed. Their positions were taken over by two other crewmen.

The rest of the senior bridge crew was curious as to what Halrinso had discovered, but decided not to worry about it at that time. They simply went back to their own tasks.

The bridge was one of the few rooms on the ship that was totally organized at that time. There was at least a little turmoil in most of the other rooms of importance, most notably Main Engineering. Things were getting very chaotic down there. The Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Seth Marquez, had scheduled a number of refits.

There were huge cables all over the floor, and everybody had to carefully watch his or her footing to avoid tripping. No one was able to work quietly with all the disorder going on.

Marquez was pacing back and forth, going over the most recent diagnostic of the warp engine. There was a small percent of error in the warp drive, which he had been attempting to correct on his own all day, but had no success.

He moved to one of the stations on the side and began to input data onto the console there. While we worked, somebody tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned around and saw Lieutenant junior grade Angela Tolbert. She was the assistant to the _Champion_'s Assistant Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Kenny Pearson, who in turn was the assistant to Lieutenant Marquez.

"What do you need, Angela?" he asked his assistant's assistant.

"I don't need anything from you personally, sir," she responded, "except for your clearance."

"Clearance for what?" he asked.

"I'm hoping to establish a direct link between the thrusters and the impulse engines." she elucidated her superior. "Ensign Nobema suggested the idea, and she told me that this way, we would be able to switch off between the two of them ten times more quickly than usual. But before we can start this, we will, of course, need your permission."

Marquez took a moment to think about Tolbert's request. Finally, he told her "I'll submit another requisition to the Captain. But while we're waiting for his response, prepare your schematics."

Tolbert nodded and walked across the room to work on the schematics of her plan. She had three other people assisting her. Marquez turned back to his station and continuing to input information into its memory banks.

A few moments later, he was tapped on the back again. He impatiently said "Yeah, what do you want now?" over his shoulder.

"It's me, Dad" a familiar voice answered.

Marquez turned around and saw his teenage daughter, Diana, standing there.

"Oh, sorry, Diana." he said quickly. "I thought you were Lieutenant Tolbert. You see, her hands are about the same size as yours and they feel about the same."

"It's quite alright, Dad." Diana looked around the room. "I see that you've got everybody pulling their weight."

Her father nodded, but he did not comment on her speculation.

"Diana, I'm very busy right now." he stressed. "Please make this quick."

"Well, I was going to come ask you if you'd like to join me for lunch," she said, "but seeing as how you're busy, I suppose that dinner will be alright."

"You don't mind?" he presumed.

"No, not at all." she insisted. "In fact, maybe I could help you out here."

"Well, I don't know." said Marquez. "I don't really have anything for you to do, unless you're interested in taking reports to and from Main Engineering."

Diana shrugged and said "I suppose I could do that."

Marquez was a little surprised. But, he decided that if Diana wanted to help, he would let her. After all, he could always use another helper, especially on a day as busy as that day.

"I'll have to clear it with the Captain," Marquez told her, "but mostly just to get you permission to have access to the bridge."

Diana nodded. Her father tapped his combadge and said into it "Marquez to Captain Larson."

"Larson here," was the response on the other end, "go ahead, Lieutenant."

"Captain, I have a personal request," the Chief Engineer answered.

"As long as it doesn't involve another requisition, I'm all ears," said Larson. The way he said it, it was hard to tell if he was joking or serious.

Regardless of that, Marquez submitted his request: "I would like to appoint Diana as a report courier."

"You want to what?" Larson asked, interested by this odd petition.

"I want to have my daughter take reports from Main Engineering to other rooms in the ship and to Main Engineering from other rooms in the ship," Marquez made his request clearer.

"May I ask why, Lieutenant?" said Larson.

"Because she actually wants to do it, Captain." Marquez explained. "In fact, she suggested the idea. Besides, we'll need as many people as possible to get this ship organized."

"A valid point." Larson agreed. "I assume you want me to give her permission to access the bridge?"

"Only if it is not too much to ask, sir." said Marquez.

"Well, you can let her know that she can go anywhere on this ship she wants," said Larson, "as long as she does not invade anyone's privacy or interrupt anybody's work."

Diana got closer to her father's combadge and said into it "I can assure you, Captain, I'll do nothing of the sort."

Larson chuckled over the comline "Excellent. And, Lieutenant, I would prefer it if you provided your daughter with a combadge. It'll be much easier to keep up with her that way."

"Of course, sir." Marquez went over to a box of spare combadges and took one out. He closed the box, walked back over to Diana, and positioned it carefully on the left side of her jacket.

She smiled up at her father and asked him "So, where should I start?"

Marquez handed her one of the PADDs he was holding in his hand and instructed her "Take this first one to Ensign Sherrod in the main sensors room. That's on-"

"Deck 9, Section 14-Alpha." Diana finished for him. Her father raised an eyebrow in amazement. She simply smirked and said "I've been studying the ship's layout."

"Indeed you have been." Marquez then gave a wave of his hand and humorously said "Hop to it! Time's a-wasting!"

Diana saluted him and said "Yes, sir."

Then she left the room and headed for the nearest turbolift.

Marquez watched her leave, and then said into his combadge "Are you still there, Captain?"

"Yes, Seth, I am," was his response. "I must say, Diana will probably make a fine Starfleet officer someday."

"Why, thank you, sir." Marquez remarked with a note of pride in his voice.

"Well, now that we're already talking with each other, there's a subject I've been meaning to address to you." Larson changed the subject. "I would like a progress report on the refits."

"Unfortunately, we're not making progress at the rate I had predicted." said Marquez.

"Is there anything you can do to get the work done faster?" inquired Larson.

"Well, Captain, right now I've got almost a third of my staff pulling double-shifts," Marquez told Larson, "but it's still going to be at least three days until we've modified every system to the desirable parameters."

"Alright, then," said Larson. "Take as much time as you need. Just make sure those refits are complete within a week from today."

"A week's still cutting it a little close," said Marquez, "but I think my staff and I can handle it."

"I'm sure you'll manage." Larson then cut the line, leaving Marquez to manage the engineering crew.

In sickbay, Dr. Keller had been activated. He had a patient seated on one of the bio-beds, holding her hand over a wound on her forehead. Dr. Keller was running a scanning device over her head with one hand, and in the other hand, he held a medical tricorder. As he read the data from the tricorder, he told the crewmember "It looks like you've merely suffered a flesh wound. I'll get a dermal regenerator."

He went over to the cart and picked up the regenerator. The crewman leaned over and allowed the doctor to run the instrument over her head. As her skin set back in place over the wound, he asked her how she acquired this injury. Her answer was simple: "It happened down in engineering. I was kneeling at one of the cabinets that contained the bio-neural gel packs. Lieutenant Pearson was working directly above me, and he had another cabinet door opened. He left with the materials he needed about ten seconds before I did, but he had forgotten to close his respective cabinet. He didn't realize it until I tried to stand up."

"You mean you got this concussion by hitting your head against a cabinet door?" said Keller. After he finished repairing the damage done to her head, she looked up at him and explained her injury further.

"Its standard procedure for all the storage compartments down in main engineering to be coated with tritanium." the patient enlightened him. "It's mostly a precautionary security measure."

"In that case, seeing as how you hit your head against tritanium, you're lucky to still be alive!" said Keller.

"I think that death would have been preferable to what happened." said the patient, rolling her eyes. "It was really embarrassing to be in the middle of Main Engineering, shouting in pain."

"It seems somewhat typical that negligence would be the cause of your injury." said Keller, a note of impatience in his voice. "Promise me that you'll be more careful and 'look up' next time when you kneel on the ground."

"Yes, Doctor." said the patient. "May I return to my station now?"

Keller dismissed her from sickbay. He turned to his desk and sat down in his chair. As he documented the injury in his medical database, the comline came on.

"Larson to sickbay," came from the other end.

"Dr. Keller here." responded the EMH. "What is it, Captain?"

"Doctor, tell me you're not serious."

"About what, sir?"

"About this request to shorten the duty shifts of the engineering crew." Larson answered.

"Captain, I am deadly serious." Keller responded. "Besides, it's only a temporary request."

"Doctor, I need the engineering crew performing at optimal efficiency right now." said Larson. "Hence, I'll need them working at their stations as much as possible."

"Captain, Lieutenant Marquez already has most of his people working double shifts at least every other day." Keller tried to emphasize his point. "They're starting to become irritable, tired, and accident-prone. For three days, I have had to treat someone from the engineering crew for plasma burns, equipment malfunctions, and God-knows-what-else every four hours. In fact, just a moment ago, I finished treating Ensign Gagnon for a concussion."

"We only need to keep this up until the refits are finished." Larson guaranteed the holographic physician. "Then I will practically order the engineering staff to shorten their duty schedules for a few weeks."

"I suppose that is a reasonable arrangement," said Keller. "Granted, it's not the one I had hoped for; it is still sufficient."

"I'm glad to hear that. Larson out."

Keller went back to work, documenting Ensign Gagnon's injury in the medical history file.

A few decks down, Lieutenants Halrinso and Casey were working in the Astrometrics Lab. They were studying the navigations report from that morning alongside a schematic of the glitch Halrinso had discovered about twenty-five minutes earlier.

Halrinso was scanning the exterior of the hull for the source of the hiccup in the integrity field while Casey was attempting to determine where they had first picked it up. Any other security officer would probably have dismissed the hiccup as a glitch, but Halrinso never took so much for granted.

"Any luck?" he asked Casey on his work.

"Well, I have a reasonably credible theory that whatever caused that hiccup, it's been attached to the hull for a long time," the Flight Controller speculated, peering into a visual readout scanner, "but it appears to be masking itself from our sensors."

"In that case, I'm going to run a second sweep on several different frequencies at once." Halrinso went to work on this, and soon there came a responsive beeping from the console in front of him. Halrinso announced with a hint of satisfaction in his voice "There, I've managed to localize it!"

"Where is it coming from?" inquired Casey, gazing at the security monitor.

"It's coming from the back of the ship." Halrinso answered him. "Scan just above the entrance to the main hanger bay on the saucer section."

"I'm reading an object at those coordinates!" said Casey. "It's about eight inches in length and width, and two inches in height. It appears to be of an electronic configuration."

"Has it been activated?" inquired Halrinso.

Casey studied the sensors, and answered "Yes."

"Set up a containment unit." Halrinso ordered him. "We'll bring it in."

Casey nodded and went to fetch some supplies from a cabinet. He returned with a portable containment unit that would seal itself with a forcefield. He placed the unit on the counter next to the main panel and activated the forcefield. Once it was all set up, the Conn Officer tapped his combadge and stated plainly "Casey to Nobema."

"Nobema here," answered the Romulan Operations Officer from the bridge. "What is it, Nick?"

He answered her "Lieutenant Halrinso and I have discovered something attached to the hull at these coordinates" and he typed in a set of coordinates into the panel in front of him. The coordinates were quickly transferred to the Operations Station on the bridge.

As Nobema studied them, she confirmed over the comline that she had received the coordinates. Then Halrinso told her what to do next.

"We need you to lock onto that object and beam it into the containment unit in this room." Halrinso instructed her. "Be sure to deactivate it when you transport it, too."

"Alright," she worked on the transporter systems from her station and locked onto the object attached to the hull. She informed the two lieutenants "I've established the lock."

"The forcefield is in place," Casey reported, "and the containment field is stable."

Halrinso tapped his combadge and said "Halrinso to Nobema… energize."

Five seconds later, a flat electronic board materialized in the containment unit. Casey inspected the unit closely. He reported that there were no breaches in the security net and the device had been properly and safely deactivated.

"Good work, Ensign," Halrinso acknowledged Nobema's work over the comline.

"Thank you, sir." she replied. "Nobema out."

Casey picked up the containment unit off the counter and said "We should probably study this device as soon as possible."

"I would agree." said Halrinso. "But even though it has been deactivated, we have to examine it with care. For all we know, that mechanism could be a weapon of terrible power."

"I certainly hope not, sir." Casey stated honestly as they left Astrometrics.

Note: I own Lieutenant Angela Tolbert, and Ensigns Sherrod and Gagnon.


	3. Provided Assistance

Note: I've established a poll relating to my eleven main characters on my profile. Do you suppose you could take a moment to partake in it?

_Captain's personal log Stardate 84356.6. The crew is making a great effort to get the ship organized. I plan to submit a full report of the refurbishments we've made to Starfleet Command. Hopefully future Champion-class starships will never be as disorganized as the _Champion _itself has been for the past several days._

_On a more personal note, I myself have spent the last nine hours sorting through dozens of requisitions from the crew. Some of the bridge crew has tried to get me to take a break, but somebody's got to manage these requests and it may as well be me. The crew believes me to be a person of good judgment, which, of course, is critical for any starship captain. However, in addition to that report, I plan to send an official complaint to Starfleet Command. To have just thrown a group of people together and almost randomly assign them their duty schedules seems like careless negligence to me._

Captain Larson filed his log in the ship's database and went back to work.

Back on the bridge, six of the eleven members of the senior staff were at their posts. Nobema sat typing something in a PADD at the Operations Station. Sanderson noticed and said "I assume you are working on another requisition for the Captain, Nobema?"

"No, it is merely a progress report from all the divisions of ship's functions." Nobema told the XO. "I thought it would do good to keep the Captain aware of the magnitude of the changes we are making to the _Champion_."

"That's a good idea." commented Hopkins. "Let's just hope he'll find time to read it."

A moment later, the turbolift arrived on the bridge and the door to it opened up. Diana walked onto the bridge, carrying five PADDs in her hands. She looked at one of them and asked aloud "Excuse me, is there a 'Lieutenant Miral Paris' here?"

The Tactical Officer turned around and said "That would be me." When she saw who had addressed her, she stopped and said "Diana! What are you doing up here?"

The other five members of the senior staff turned and saw that Diana was indeed standing there on the bridge. She walked over to Paris and, as she gave her one of the PADDs, replied "I am delivering you a report from Main Engineering. My fath- Lieutenant Marquez wanted you to be notified of the effect some of the refits would have on your branch of ship's business."

"So, where do you fit in?" inquired Hopkins.

"I'm the unofficial message delivery girl." Diana answered. She looked at another PADD and said "I have another report here for 'Lieutenant Commander Patrick Wood.'"

"Turn around, Diana." said a friendly voice behind her. Diana turned around and saw Commander Wood for the first time. He was easily distinguished amongst the crew for his high IQ and background knowledge. Diana was the first one on the _Champion_ to distinguish him for his looks.

Diana handed Wood his report, smiling sweetly at him. He nodded in return and began to examine the contents of the PADD.

While he did this, Sanderson looked over at Diana and asked her "Are things so disorganized down in Main Engineering that Lieutenant Marquez has no one to spare except his own daughter to deliver the modifications reports?"

"Actually, I suggested the idea." Diana enlightened Sanderson. "I always like to help my father out in any way I can, so I volunteered for this task."

"Who authorized this?" asked Rizux.

"The Captain." Diana answered. "That's how I got bridge clearance."

She looked at the reports and said "Well, looks like that's it for the bridge crew that's accounted for. I'll be on my way to the science branch next."

"Oh, Diana, you'll be passing sickbay on your way to the science level." said Wood, getting out of his seat. He walked over to Diana and held out another PADD. "Could you please deliver this to Dr. Keller? He's been waiting on it all morning."

Diana nodded and took the PADD from the Second Officer. Then she made her way back to the turbolift, stepped inside, and said "Sickbay."

The turbolift doors closed. Wood turned back to the front of the bridge and headed to the center.

"Patrick, did you see the way she looked at you?" said Hopkins.

"What do you mean, Cheryl?" asked Wood as he sat back down in his chair.

"I believe I saw a twinkle in her eye." Hopkins clarified.

"She's right." Paris agreed. "I think she likes you, Patrick."

Wood scoffed and said "Don't be ridiculous, Miral."

Paris shrugged and said "She is fifteen after all. Surely you of all people know that at that age many Human girls have raging hormones."

"I know what you mean, Miral." Hopkins concurred. "When I was fifteen, I fell in love with one in twenty of all my male friends."

"That's fascinating, Ensign," said Sanderson, "but the bridge is not exactly the place to be talking about your personal life."

"Right. Sorry, Commander," Hopkins turned back to her workstation and resumed her work.

Sanderson picked up a PADD that had been placed on the console next to her chair. She looked at the clock on the console and announced "Well, it's been well over an hour since you last visited the Captain, Patrick. I'm going to see how he's doing."

Nobema stood up and said "If you don't mind, Commander, I'd like to join you."

"Be my guest, Ensign." Sanderson nodded at the Romulan.

As Sanderson stood up, Nobema picked up the report she had been working on. She had been planning on delivering it to Larson whenever he was available. But she decided to just come forth with it right at that time.

The two of them went to the door of the ready room and Sanderson tapped the beeper. Almost immediately, they heard Larson beckoning them to come in. They entered the room to find him engrossed in his work. He had his eyes fixed on one PADD, which he was examining very closely.

Larson looked up at his visitors and placed the PADD down. He said "Commander Sanderson, Ensign Nobema, is there something I could do for you?"

The two of them walked over to his desk and sat down on two of the chairs in front of it.

"Well, Captain, I'm mostly just here to discuss something **I **might be able to do for **you**." Sanderson told him. "But, you see, Nobema has a ships' functions report for you."

Nobema leaned over to Larson's desk and held out the report. Larson took it and quickly skimmed through it. He murmured that everything appeared to be in working order as he studied the report. When he was finished, he said "Everything seems to be working at acceptable levels. I just hope that Mr. Marquez will get the engines configured to the new specifications."

"I think he can," said Sanderson, "but you know, his daughter was just delivering some progress reports to the bridge. She claims her father appointed her as an unofficial message courier, and that you gave her bridge clearance. Is this true?"

"Yes, it is true," said Larson, "and based on what Lieutenant Marquez told me, it was her idea in the first place. She wasn't a disturbance on the bridge, was she?"

"Not at all, sir." Sanderson answered. "But her participation struck as somewhat ironic. It's come to my attention that Lieutenant Marquez has been working almost as hard as you have for the past few days. I mean, if he has his own daughter delivering the progress reports, things must be incredibly busy down on the engineering decks."

"I see what you're trying to tell me, Commander," said Larson. He turned to the Romulan officer and told her "Nobema, sometime later today, I want you to stop by Main Engineering and ask Lieutenant Marquez if he has anything that can be handled by the Operations section. I figure that the Engineering crew is already pulling their weight down there."

Nobema nodded and said "Right after my lunch break, I'll pay a visit to Main Engineering."

Larson looked over at Sanderson and asked her "Is there anything else you need? I've got a lot of requisitions to finish, and I feel that my sense of humor is dangerously low at the moment."

Sanderson looked a little uneasy upon hearing that last statement. She nervously held up her PADD to the desk and queried "Captain, would this be a bad time to let you know that another requisition has just come in?"

"What's this one now?" the irritated Captain asked as he took the PADD from his XO. "A request to replace the photon torpedoes with large cases of rocks?"

"Actually, sir, it's a request from your wife." Sanderson answered him. "She wants to designate Section 5 on Deck 3 as the official childcare and school center."

"At least I know my children will be happy if I deny that one." Larson commented sarcastically. He then just sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair.

Nobema and Sanderson looked at each other, and then back at their commanding officer. Nobema asked him "Is everything alright, Captain?"

"Yes, Nobema, everything is fine." he answered his Operations Officer. "I just didn't anticipate there would be this much bedlam on a starship simply because her crew was not entirely satisfied with their working space."

"If you want, sir, I can manage all the requisitions myself." Sanderson offered.

"Oh, no, no, no, no." said the Captain. "Even you cannot complete all these requisitions by yourself, Commander. Although, I'm sure you would try if you had the opportunity."

"You're correct, sir." said Ashley. "But I must point out that you've been at this for more than nine hours. You should take a break; spend some time with your wife and kids."

There was a brief silence in the ready room for a few minutes. Finally, Larson saw the logic in Sanderson's suggestion.

"Well, maybe you're right." Larson admitted, realizing just how tired he was. "However, I do believe that you'll need some aid in this matter. So I'll assign Commander Wood to assist you."

Sanderson found this to be an acceptable arrangement. Once everything was in order, Larson and Nobema left the ready room. Sanderson summoned Wood to the ready room and together, they started managing the requisitions. Wood proved to be a very helpful person in this matter.

Larson quickly overviewed each of the workstations on the bridge and found their functioning to be more than sufficient. When he was finished with his survey, he walked over to the turbolift and stepped inside. Before the doors shut, he said "Lieutenant Paris, you have the bridge."

Then the doors closed and Larson went to his quarters on Deck 6.

Paris was a little surprised to discover that she was in charge of the bridge. She looked around and realized that most of the senior staff was off the bridge at that moment. In actuality, the only four members of the senior staff who were still on the bridge were Paris herself, Hopkins, Rizux, and Nobema.

Sure, Dr. Rizux held the rank of Lieutenant Commander, but most of the time, personnel from his branch (the branch that wore blue shirts and associated with the medical and scientific parts) of a starship did not involve themselves in the main chain of command. However, a notable exception was Commander Wood, who, in addition to being the Second Officer, was the ship's Head Counselor.

Even though she was in charge, Paris continued to manage the bridge from her post at the Tactical Station.

Casey and Halrinso were in the science lab on Deck 15 examining the object they had found on the hull.

While Halrinso examined the object with a visual scanning device, Casey was making an effort to detach the object's framework from its central mechanism.

"This is one stubborn chassis," he remarked as he attempted to pry the casing apart from the central structure with the aid of a magnetic reversion inductor.

"Remember, Lieutenant, you must be gentle with this item," Halrinso cautioned him, "Otherwise you may damage it."

"Whatever you say, sir," Casey agreed as he continued to run the inductor over the sides of the device. After a few minutes of carefully applying the inductor, the chassis started to loosen. After another few minutes, Casey managed to safely pry it off with his fingers in two pieces. Once he had accomplished that, he and Halrinso were able to study the device more closely.

The object's composition was one of the most complex designs either of them had ever seen. But they did their best to interpret each part of the object and determine its purpose.

"Alright, this part is definitely the power cell," Casey concluded, "it would appear that this thing is powered by anything it comes in contact with."

"That would explain its location on our hull." Halrinso noted, examining the object. "Now, look closely at this part of the object. It would appear that these gadgets located on either side regulate the device's abilities to hide itself from our sensors. They must be very advanced if they managed to escape our notice for so long."

"I believe this part of the device is supposed to function as a beacon." Casey speculated.

"A beacon?" said Halrinso.

Casey nodded. He told his colleague "We'll have to get a closer look at this thing if we are going to understand what its main function is."

"Wait. Let's think about this for a moment, Lieutenant." Halrinso told Casey. "If that part of the object actually is a beacon, then what could its primary function be?"

Casey stood thinking for a few seconds, and quickly realized what Halrinso was suggesting. He looked at Halrinso and said apprehensively "Sir… you don't think that…?"

The Bolian security chief tapped his combadge and said "Halrinso to the bridge."

"Paris here," was the response.

"Lieutenant, where are Commanders Sanderson and Wood?" inquired Halrinso, partially confused.

"They're in the ready room handling the requisitions." Paris explained. "They finally convinced the Captain to take a break. Just before he left the bridge, he put me in charge."

"Well, regardless of who's in charge of the bridge at the moment, we need you to notify Commander Wood to meet with us as soon as he is available." Halrinso ordered her.

"Why?" said Paris.

There came a brief pause. Finally, Halrinso answered Paris with "We'll need him to assist us while we conduct further studies on the object we found on the hull. However, as of right now, we have reason to believe that the object… is a homing device."


End file.
